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2024 Aydin Breland 4* DT from Mater Dei

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Great we’re getting some big time war daddies coming for Junior Day!!! I think Mario is salivating at landing 2-3 DT’s in the ‘24 cycle and this young man would be a massive pickup.
 
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Breland said the visit to Miami was his first and he’s strongly considering returning for an official trip later in the year.

“I loved it there,” Breland said. “I loved everything about it. The coaches are so genuine and I really enjoyed talking with coach coach Joe (Salave’a) and coach Cristobal. The atmosphere was incredible, the campus was great and overall, the trip was way better than I expected.

“Coach Cristobal was the first coach to offer me when I was in 8th grade and he was at Oregon. We had a great connection back then so I was curious if we would still have that and we definitely did. He’s so laid back and easy to talk with. I liked the new DC, Lance Guidry, as well, he’s super funny and I love what they’re building.”

- 247's Greg Biggins Miami Junior Day Update
 
One9 said:
Breland said the visit to Miami was his first and he’s strongly considering returning for an official trip later in the year.

“I loved it there,” Breland said. “I loved everything about it. The coaches are so genuine and I really enjoyed talking with coach coach Joe (Salave’a) and coach Cristobal. The atmosphere was incredible, the campus was great and overall, the trip was way better than I expected.

“Coach Cristobal was the first coach to offer me when I was in 8th grade and he was at Oregon. We had a great connection back then so I was curious if we would still have that and we definitely did. He’s so laid back and easy to talk with. I liked the new DC, Lance Guidry, as well, he’s super funny and I love what they’re building.”

- 247's Greg Biggins Miami Junior Day Update
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Yeah I'd say we'll get an OV here
 
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Note how Mario offered Breland in 8th grade just like he offered T.K. Cunnigham yesterday at Junior day. Not sure Breland was 6'5 230 in 8th grade though.
 
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When you look at Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei defensive lineman Aydin Breland, you will see that he's more closely akin to a college lineman than one who just finished his junior year of high school.

He’s all of 6-5, 285 pounds of lean muscle. You just don’t see a lot of defensive linemen out West that look like Breland. And the scary thing is, he’s not even close to peaking physically. His ceiling is through the roof.

Breland is a natural athlete who credits his coordination to playing multiple sports growing up.

“I was actually a baseball player growing up, that was my main sport,” Breland said. “I didn’t really start playing football until I was about 12 or 13 and I liked it right away.

“I did every sport when I was young, from baseball to soccer, swimming and now football and track. They all came naturally for me but football is a lot of fun and definitely where my passion is right now.”

Breland played youth ball for the Pomona Steelers and trained at Winners Circle Athletics, where he also attended prep school in 8th grade. He was already receiving scholarship offers before he hit high school and drew rare praise from former Monarch head coach Bruce Rollinson following his freshman season.

“He has the potential to be the No. 1 defensive lineman in the country by the time he’s a senior,” Rollinson said at the time. “He has great length and athleticism and is such an explosive and powerful kid. ... Our DL coach compared him to Richard Seymour and his ceiling is incredibly high. When the light bulb goes on for him, he’s going to be special.”

Also, Breland is such a natural thrower in the discus that some have said he would be a national level competitor if he trained full time for it. In his first meet of the season last week, he threw his personal best at 180-3, which is the No. 4 throw in the state this year.

“Last year was my first year throwing and I was able to qualify for CIF and Masters,” Breland said. “This year, I’m hoping to qualify for state and I’m already ahead of where I was last year even though I got a late start to my training recovering from a football injury."

"I enjoy throwing, I think I have a pretty natural motion, with long arms and really good mind-muscle connection," he continued. "I’m throwing farther than some guys that train year around but it’s a lot of fun for me."

On the recruiting front, Breland was already pulling in scholarship offers from national level programs in middle school and had blown past double digits offers as a freshman. He has been very active traveling the country over the last year, taking unofficial trips to Colorado, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas A&M and USC. He plans to visit Florida State on Tuesday along with also attending spring games at Miami and Georgia later this week. Additionally, Tennessee, Texas and LSU will get unofficial visits at some point this offseason.

247Sports handicaps the recruitment as things stand now with a decision expected sometime this summer after the official visits.

MIAMI HURRICANES​

The 'Canes are one of the schools that is recruiting Breland the hardest. He raved about his visit to Miami in March. As mentioned, he will be back on campus later this weekend for the spring game.
“The coaches are so genuine and I really enjoyed talking with coach coach Joe (Salave’a) and coach Cristobal,” Breland said. “The atmosphere was incredible, the campus was great and overall, the trip was way better than I expected. .. Coach Cristobal was the first coach to offer me when I was in 8th grade when he was at Oregon. I still remember talking to him and how the offer went down. He was so easy to talk with back then so I was wondering if it would still be like that when I saw him this weekend and it felt like old times.”

WHY AYDIN BRELAND IS A NAME TO KNOW IN 2024​

When looking at Breland, there are so many things that jump out about him.

As mentioned, he has an ideal frame and you can literally line him up just about anywhere along the defensive line. He has played inside and outside for the Monarchs, but his game really took off last season when he was moved to edge rusher. It's always tough to put up gaudy numbers for Mater Dei since they're so deep and rotate about eight players on the defensive line.

But with that being said, Breland flashed. You really saw what he's capable of and why he's so highly coveted. He's quick off the ball, has strong hands and can manhandle an opposing high school lineman.

He has grown man strength, plays with a mean streak and has the kind of nastiness you have to have to survive in the trenches. He's still growing in to his frame and we could easily see him playing at around 6-5, 325 pounds in a few years without losing any of his natural athleticism.

His recruitment really looks wide open right now. In fact, it would be hard to guess more than 2-3 schools that would be locks to make his upcoming list of destinations. Breland explained that the immediate plan is to cut his list of schools down to 10. He wants to make a late summer commitment, so he’s hoping to get in all five of his official trips before pulling the trigger. He’ll figure out which schools will get these five official trips once he finished his unofficial visits.
 
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